Monthly trading statistics have just been released for May 2016 by the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) for its GPW Group operated markets, showing a 5.7% decline in the value of overall equity trades on its electronic order book which totaled PLN 12.5 billion ($3.22 billion), lower from PLN 13.2 billion ($3.40 billion) in April.

The number of transactions that the exchange operator reported remained unchanged at 1.4 million in May when compared to April 2016, yet was higher by 13% when compared year-over-year to March 2015.

Single-stock futures higher

Index futures at WSE recorded 312,900 contracts traded in May, up 21.5% YoY, yet lower from 326,500 in April. The volume of single-stock futures that were traded in May reached 103,900 at WSE, up from 101,000 in the previous month, and higher by 34.6% compared to May 2015.

WSE noted that this May and May 2015 had the same number of trading days, whereas April had 21 trading days.

Additional companies raised capital on the exchanges Catalyst market including PKO Bank Hipoteczny SA with a mortgage bond issue of PLN 500 million achieved, among other companies with private placements and newly listed with successful IPOs in Poland.

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Capitlisation ratios

At the end of May 2016, market capitalisation for the 434 domestic companies listed on the exchange’s main market stood at PLN 496.9 billion (EUR 113.4 billion), excluding 53 foreign company listings.

Including the remaining 53 foreign companies, the total capitalisation of 487 listed companies totaled PLN 971.8 billion (EUR 221.8 billion) at the end of May, indicating that more than half of the overall weighting is from the nearly 11% of foreign entities listed at the WSE main market.

Poland’s president chimes in

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda commented in a statement regarding the exchange, during an anniversary at WSE that he attended in April: “The Warsaw Stock Exchange is the fourth biggest exchange in Europe and the unparalleled leader in this part of Europe. This is great, let’s keep it up. We should be the economic leader in this part of Europe – its leading country. It is a serious task ahead. Let’s keep looking to the Exchange and how it grows, supporting it to the extent possible with good regulation.”

President Duda added: “Congratulations are in place due to the Code of Best Practice approved by the Exchange, which focuses on corporate governance, good management, transparency of listed companies, reliable information for shareholders. In brief, it is a measure of integrity on the capital market, and ensures its clear rules. The Exchange is extremely important.”

Momentum in financials

In its latest annual report for 2015, GPW Group reported PLN 179.5 million in EBITDA , up by PLN 15.4 million from PLN 164.1 million in reported in 2014, and with an operating profit of PLN 152.6 billion higher from PLN 135.4 billion over the same period.

Cost cutting measures, coupled with higher results in its commodity products segment, have helped decrease operating expenses and lift revenue in recent years, as seen in the excerpt below from the exchanges latest annual report. Shares of GPW listed on the WSE (GPW) were down 1.34% today and ended the week lower.